Tigers 21 Saracens 21 Over all I was pleased with the outcome of this game, Saracens were missing a lot of players as were we but to my untutored and potentially biased eye it looked like our2nds/3rds v their 1sts/2nds.
Saracens played the conditions excellently, their exit strategies worked well and they played a limited, and exactly the right, game plan well.
That said, we hung on in there and reeled them back to a 3 point deficit throughout most of the game.
Some of our kicking from hand was of dubious quality and we seemed to seek out Strettle in space in particular. Ironically it was this “tactic” that, with considerable help from Mr Wigglesworth, got us the draw in the end.
Brad took an opportunity to make an early impression on Burger with the latter having to leave the pitch for concussion protocol afterwards. Thacker showed his threat early on with a hack through and phenomenal speed however the whistle had already gone for one of the numerous knock ons.
Bosch had a spell in the bin and for me a yellow card was about right as we see the usual “it was a definite red” being matched by the “it wasn’t even a penalty”.
Mr Wigglesworth is certainly one of the easier ref’s to read, if it looks like a game will break out, he blows up.
One hideous place kick aside, Owen looked composed and converted some excellent long range chances, I like the look of Bell too.
Thacker did well and one suspects were he to be swinging between full match fit and on form Ayerza and Cole, he would be even better. It was a think of joy to see him sweep hook twice in the same scrum to get the ball, in days of yore the oppo hooker would have struck for it too.
Fraser made a macho first scrum and for what it is worth at the final scrum, if Gill’s head came up between Fraser and Harry then he must have been at an angle and driving up.
And poor old Miles is going to attract a lot more kicks to him if he continues to struggle as he has shown.
That said, well done Tigers, 2 more points than I had feared. So another attempt to keep the site up ends.
In fairness to Miles there's an awful lot he does well. We need to find away to support his current apparent, weakness because going forward he looks scary.
We shouldn't forget the wailing and gnashing of teeth about Tait under the high ball during his early starts. A couple of weeks with Geordon (presumably) and he's now as solid as a solid thing.
I appreciate that should be spotted before it becomes a game issue, but it can be rectified. Benjamin doesn't look, to me, like someone who's afraid of work so I'd think that'll be the ongoing project.
I'd hate to see Tait messed around with being shunted to the wing. He's a bloke who needs certainty imo. Bell is a very promising full-back but not imo a wing and certainly not the threat that Miles is.
The alternative might be Tombstone - better under the high ball and a genuine winger but whilst Miles dropped a few yesterday conditions were poor and he's been ok previously. Good management doesn't drop players in those circumstances - same as when he lost the ball at Scarlets.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net